The present invention relates to data processing by digital computer, and more particularly to brokers for managing computer-implemented installations.
Desktop computers, mainframes, servers, and other types of general-purpose computers, and some types of special purpose computers, generally rely upon some type of installed software to be able to provide a variety of functions to users. Typically, many different kinds of software supporting many different functions can be installed on such a computer. Software that can be installed may include operating systems, application programs, extensions, and other types of resources, which each may include one or more installable units or components. An installable unit may reside on an external medium, such as a CD; in a local memory, such as a hard drive, associated with the computer; in a local network, such as in a file system directory; or remotely, such as on a file share server, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server, or an file transfer protocol (FTP) server.
Regardless of the location of the installable unit, an installer located on the computing system onto which the installable unit is to be installed is used to retrieve and install the installable unit. An installer is a utility program that facilitates or eases the installation of another application. Installers typically allow the user to select desired configuration options for the application installation or to use default configuration settings, set up corresponding initialization files, and copy the application to a hard disk on the computing system. The installer knows exactly what components it needs for the installation, where the components are located, and how to retrieve the components. In some cases, an uninstaller may be included as part of the installer program or as a separate program to enable users to reverse or remove the different files that are modified or generated during the installation process.